Microchera

Microchera is a genus of hummingbirds.

Microchera
Snowcap (Microchera albocoronata)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Clade:	Strisores
Order:	Apodiformes
Family:	Trochilidae
Tribe:	Trochilini
Genus:	Microchera Gould, 1858
Type species
Mellisuga albocoronata[1] Lawrence, 1855
Species
3, see text

Species

The genus includes three species:^[2]

Genus Microchera – Gould, 1858 – three species

Common name	Scientific name and subspecies	Range	Size and ecology	IUCN status and estimated population
Snowcap Male Female	Microchera albocoronata (Lawrence, 1855) Two subspecies[3] M. a. albocoronata (Lawrence, 1855) M. a. parvirostris (Lawrence, 1865)	Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama	Size: Habitat: Diet:	LC
Coppery-headed emerald Male Female	Microchera cupreiceps (Lawrence, 1866)	Costa Rica	Size: Habitat: Diet:	LC
White-tailed emerald	Microchera chionura (Gould, 1851)	Costa Rica and Panama.	Size: Habitat: Diet:	LC

The white-tailed emerald and the coppery-headed emerald were formerly placed in the genus Elvira. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2014 found that these two species were closely related to the snowcap in the genus Microchera.^[4] The three species were therefore placed together in Microchera which has priority.^[2]